Neon locks and living keys
by Kopapa
Summary: They captured me. The Invasion failed. I failed. My people need me. All I can think of is a simple phrase. The Jailer is the key. If I kill him, I'll be free.
1. Breaking the chain

I'm being held captive. Captive in a prison I don't know where. Can't remember seeing somebody else. Likely I'm alone. Probably not. If I am, with all this special attention for me, I feel like royalty.

My only little kingdom.

The Three-Masked Man is here again. That bastard... One of these days, I'll rip his masks apart and stab my blade through his throat!

Heh, who am I kidding. That won't happen. Only thing that is happening is the beating and the torturing. Day in, day out. I endure it. It adds to my anger and _if_ I'm getting out of here, I will unleash this silent fury.

Then the Rabbit appears. Gives me back my sword and gun. He says "The Jailer is the key. Kill him... and you'll be free." Can't decide if he's real or just in my head. Maybe both. Probably just in my head.

The Three-Masked Bastard. He's good, real good. But I'm furious. And calmer. And I slice that fucker down. No sense of accomplishment, no joy, nothing personal.

Just revenge.

The Rabbit says something and I get a grasp of this prison. Floating islands over the world. Build just for me.

My own little kingdom.

And I will tear it down.


	2. Unleashing the straps

Step through the portal. I arrive in front of a floating sphere.

Damn impressive.

The Rabbit informs me that this is a prison inside a prison. It holds another one like me. Now I feel stupid for thinking I was the only one.

Then he says, that she arrived before me me and destroyed everything in her wake. They locked her away, just like me. And they tortured her.

"But you and me, we know that being locked up fucks you up inside" True that. "That's why, we're getting out. That's why our story doesn't end like hers." My story...

I enter her cell and there she is. Enraged. Quick. Deadly. And she gets angrier every time she frees herself a bit from her straps. But blind rage can only get you so far. I use this fact to my advantage and throw her into the pit of her cage. And then she isn't anymore...

"Well done." I continue forward, the only way I know. The Rabbit says she crashed through one day, frantically searching for something. Then I came along and they imprisoned her again and they did worse things to her.

She deserved it. Poor thing.

"But we're going to make things right again."

Right.


	3. Crossing the line

The next battlefield. Floating rocks with sand on them, and a nice breeze. The Rabbit agrees.

"Feels like we could take off and leave this place behind us." I'm going to leave. Watch me. He also says what I already know, that this place is not real and the real world is waiting for us down there. The real world... I wonder how my world is. I've never seen it.

Doesn't matter. I need to keep going forward.

The Rabbit informs me about my next opponent. An old man, apparently the "master of time". And then he starts his rant about him. I'm not listening. I don't care who he is. If he's in my way, I'll kill him. It's that simple.

"Time to move on, my friend," he says as I approach my goal, "The Jailer is the key." I know it by now.

The old man greets me like an old friend. He knew I was coming. Foretold it, he says. Bullshit. The future, my future is in the making. He seems to agree with what I'm thinking. "Time is a picture in motion through eternity." Whatever the fuck that means. "When you appeared, everything got still. You made the picture stop. I'm here to make my clocks tick again." You can try, old man. He says he can't kill me but he can bring me back to my cell until the next cycle. I don't know what he means. Next cycle? How long, how many times have I done this?

Focus.

The Rabbit and the old fuck are messing with my head. He's just some old man, hiding behind his shields. Just an old man using tricks. But I slice him down.

Like so many others before him.

"Look to the sky, stranger. Therein lies your answer." The sky...my mission...my people...my world...

My world?

The Rabbit brings me back to the present. He is saying something. I'm not listening.

I just keep going forward.


	4. Piercing the scale

I'm in a sewer. A nice change from that last place. The smell doesn't bother me. I've smelled worse.

There is the Rabbit again. "Take a good look my friend." I quickly scan the area. It's a weird underground facility with sewer water and flowers. I hope it's flowers. Chances are it's mold. I notice the smell is getting stronger.

"Years of evolution, culture, civilization, great intellect, wonders of nature. **BAM**! Wiped out in one, single impact." That's the state of my planet. I'm convinced the Rabbit is not real. I'm alone in this.

Then he starts lamenting about someone whose situation had proved impossible to fix. He's probably talking about my next foe. But if he's in my head how do I know this stuff?

"I don't know much about you. I have heard some bad stuff. And what I've seen, well..." I did what I did for my people. I don't give a damn what you you think. "But we have one thing in common. You and I, we have nothing to lose. For every day we're locked away up here, we have nothing, we've lost." He's right. I can't waste anymore time here. I must think of my mission. The smell is getting to me slowly.

I arrive at a shallow pond. There he is. He looks oddly familiar. And he's not alone.

I am.

"Don't look so horrified: you're staring at yourself. You! You did this to me!" Never seen him in my life. I get that - a lot. All joking aside, I think he means the Rabbit. The Rabbit is in my head. Or not.

Can't concentrate. The smell is getting worse with each passing second, clouding my vision. He thinks I'm the Rabbit. Hell, even _I_ think I'm him. But somehow I pull through. I get through his clones, I get through his submersion tricks and my blade gets through his head. And suddenly the smell is gone.

"I thought about it for so long." The Rabbit reappears. " Destruction of the world on one hand. But on the other...what about my world?" My people need this world. But that's not the point. He exists. The Rabbit talks about himself. And I'm listening. "I made my decision. I will free myself. Whatever the cost." Whatever the cost. We're not alone in this.

I'm not.


	5. Biting the hand

_Sorry for the wait, life caught up with me._

* * *

A desert. Sand everywhere and a hot wind blowing through the landscape. I would say it reminds me of my home planet. Then again, I've never seen my home planet. I dunno if it has deserts, oceans, forests or anything of that kind. All I know is it's dying.

I keep going forward. The only path I can take.

The Rabbit tells me what keeps him going. I have my mission, I have my people. People I've never seen. People I don't know if they look like me. A home world I don't know anything about.

Where did that come from?

I shake it off. Focus. I don't know them, they don't know me, but I know they need me. That's what keeps me going. For now.

The Rabbit tries to enrage me. "You were captured, thrown in prison, tortured! And here they are, those guardians: hand-picked, top-of-their-game killing machines... Just waiting to throw you back in! How does that make you feel?"

Nothing. I feel nothing. My rage subdued quickly after killing the Three-Masked-Bastard. Rage is not my driving force. Not anymore.

"Can you feel it? The anger?"

No.

"Good, focus on it! Let it grow!"

No.

The Rabbit keeps trying to upset me. He tells me the next one led the men that captured me. True, it wasn't fair, but he was just doing his job. Defending his home world. No hard feelings.

"So what do you say? An eye for an eye, huh? Time to take your revenge".

It's not about revenge anymore, my friend.

It's about duty.

"The Jailer is the key..."

I step into the dome. It's pleasantly warm, not hot, and kinda idyllic. I notice a boy staring at me from the other side, then running to his father. I think he's his father. I can't hear what they're talking about. As I reach the center of the dome, he also makes his way to it.

"I look at you, Stranger, and I see nothing. Desolation. Death. You are alone".

No, I'm not alone, I found a friend.

"I am fighting for something much greater than this. Can you imagine the strength that gives me?"

Yes, I can. My people need me. Can you imagine the weight on my shoulders?

"I doubt it. And so your fight ends here".

He means business. My blaster is rendered useless, thanks to his shield. His attacks are ferocious.

I'm in trouble.

"I brought you to your knees once already. And I will do so again".

For the first time since I escaped I taste blood in my mouth.

"You're no match for me. Give up while you can. It's the right thing to do".

I can't.

Let him keep coming. Counter every mistake he makes. He beat me before with a hundred men, but it's one on one now. My kind of game. He gets impatient and I punish him for that.

"You can't win, Stranger. You have nothing to protect. Nothing to fight for".

Wrong. I fight for the same reasons as you.

Focus. He attacks. An opening. I punish. He gets frustrated.

"I will never give up, Stranger. The stakes are too high".

Right, they're too high. Countless people depend on me.

He unleashes a flurry of blows. I parry them all and his next mistake will be his last. And so I stab him and leave an orphan behind.

As I walk away I look back at the corpse. He did nothing wrong. He was just in my way.

I'm tired.

"Man, that was intense. But you've gotta move on now. Don't overthink it, that's what they want you to do".

For the moment, I'll follow his advice. I need to focus on the next step.

"The things we do for love..."

Or duty.


	6. Silencing the song

Stairs. Just stairs. They look old. But they can't be that old. This place was built for me. On the other hand, I don't know for how long they kept me up here. Could be days. Could be years. Could be eons.

"This one upstairs. arrogant, self-righteous and cold. That's her".

The Rabbit is at it again. Trying to get me worked up, to get me angry. It doesn't work, my friend. He hates her. Oh boy, how much he hates her.

"Just remember: she's messing with your head. Don't listen to her".

You're messing with my head too, my friend. You're using me for your little vendetta here. But I'll allow it, if it means we're getting out of here.

"And give her a good kick from me".

Heh, ok.

A beautiful place. Trees, a fountain and a nice breeze. She greets me at the bridge.

"Walk with me. It was all a mistake". Yeah, sure. "The cell, the restraints, the Guardians. We can make this right". Right, not the first one to tell me that. "You can't go to my world, but you can be free here. Look at what I'm offering. This can be your home. I'll take care of you. I'll tell you the tales of my world. You will tell me yours".

Stay here. Be in peace. I'm tempted. For one moment, I consider staying. Her voice has something soothing.

But I can't. I have nothing to say, I have no story to tell. Fuck, I don't even have a name.

I walk away.

"Stay with me".

I can't.

"Come on, give it a chance".

No. I must continue my fight. I must keep walking this path, the only path I know.

"How dare you shun me?" She sounds angry.

We arrive at a platform. Our battlefield.

"I was your only hope".

I know.

The battle is fierce. She's tough, but I focus and fight her. Only in battle do I feel something. I want to win. I forget my doubts. I forget everything that doesn't help me fight. She's real tough. Her barriers got me a couple of times. Doesn't matter. I'm better. And I give her a good kick like I promised.

"This will eat you up inside for the rest of your days".

She's opening her arms and waits for her death.

And I hesitate.

She did nothing wrong. She's just protecting her world, the people she knows and loves. Hell, she even offered to help me. But I have no stories to tell, no name. I'm just a stranger.

So I kill her. I have no other option.

"I did not expect that". His words bring me back. "Not from you. I think I saw you hesitate after the last fight". He can see right through me.

"You of all people! Why would you ever hesitate? It made me think. I like it".

I don't care. I walk towards the door and I think of only one thing.

"It gives me hope".

Who am I?


	7. Hearing the voice

As soon as I enter the room, bright light, then out of nowhere the Rabbit appears.

"Oh, it's you. Well, I took care of this one." Yeah, sure. I don't believe him. "I felt you deserved a little more from me. Call it my contribution to our escape. We're in this together, now more then ever." Which means no fighting this time.

Good, I need a break.

I look around. A rather small circular room with stairs and a lot of monitors, a hologram of the prison and the world below. Not sure if it's the actual world, but I recognize the spot I landed.

It was so long ago.

I start walking to the exit, passing some monitors. I can see some of the places I've been through. Not that it matters.

It's all in the past now.

I catch glimpses of the areas that are down the road. More fighting awaits. For a future. A future for them. Not for me. I'm just disposable.

The Rabbit brakes my train of thought and drops some information about this place as I ascend the stairs. Build by a genius architect, apparently.

"This impossible, IMPASSABLE prison."

My own little kingdom.

"I tried so many times to find some way out of here. Without killing them. Without freeing you. But I couldn't outsmart my greatest work."

Doesn't surprise me. It's the only explanation. That's why he can move around so freely and why he knows so much shit about the Jailers. And I finally get to hear his reason for leaving.

"And slowly that ancient, animal part of my brain took over. The urge that made me fast when she was in danger. The architect gave up and the father came up with a plan."

That's why he used me as his breakout tool. I can't complain. It gets me out of here too. In a way, I'm glad for his madness.

"I know what you're thinking. There's a thin line between love and madness."

I look at the world below on more time. The prize. Beautiful and precious. It holds a little special Rabbit lady for him.

And answers for me, I hope.

"Time will tell."

I'll help him. It's the least I can do. I want to see the person the Rabbit opened Pandora's Box for. And maybe get some answers about myself. Or at least a name.

"You go ahead, I'll be with you in a moment."

Take a break my friend.


	8. Withstanding the burst

The next area. Columns and arches are in front of me. I can see the exit, not far ahead.

"I like her. She's a lot like me. She's clever and has a plan."

As always, the Rabbit appears, feeding me intel.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, she's an 11, and she'd give herself a 12." Now I'm curious. Well, I'll find it out the hard way.

I move forward. A floating rabbit head appears.

"Initiating scan...opponent armed."

Trying to find out more about me? Smart. It won't help you, but smart anyway. I can't help it, but this thing resembles the Rabbit a lot. I wonder if he designed them, too.

"Heart rate: 8 bpm."

That's unusually calm, even for myself. Guess letting my doubts behind helped me.

"Analyzing DNA... Error. DNA unknown."

No surprises here. At least she's not gaining any advantage from that.

I slowly reach the gate, expecting some kind of ambush. Nothing happens. The thing counts down the distance to the exit. Still no sign of her. It can't be so easy.

"Remember, for her it's all a game, but losing is not an option." Well, two can play that game.

"5 m...

4...

3...

2...

1..."

And suddenly, I'm falling.

Of course, it wouldn't be so easy.

I land in a large arena, divided by trenches and walls. Still no sign of her.

First comes the sound of a gun.

Then the pain.

Then the feeling if blood gushing out.

And last the force of the impact pushing me back.

"Now you're mine. Go get him boys! This is not a drill!"

Floating rabbit heads appear, shooting at me. I dispose of them. As soon as I leave my cover, another shot of hers finds its target. More pain, more blood.

She's got me on the ropes. I won't survive another shot.

Before I can think of something, more floating heads appear.

...Fuck...

Relax. Once you find her, it's over. You're no match for her in close combat. Find her and kill her.

And I find her, dodging her bullets and her pets.

But she's quick, even for me. And good in close combat too.

That fucking bitch.

I was arrogant assuming she's weak. But I can't lose. Not an option for me.

Time to step up my game.

She is fast, but she can't hold it up for long. And her tricks are nothing more than tricks. She's getting tired, too tired. So I put her to rest.

As I'm catching my breath, I hear cries of joy.

"That was sweet! You beat her at her own game. She was a cheater anyway."

And honestly, she's just a 10.

Not wanting to hear the Rabbit, I make my way to the exit.

That fucking bitch.


End file.
